Improved carriage-top



K. T. HURLBURT.

Carriage-Top.

Patented July 11, 1865.

Inventor: %/%M/ .Witnesses:

jfiflyM AM. FHDTIFLITHO. C0. N.Y. (DSNRNE'S PROCESS.)

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

K. THOS. HURLBURT, OF LYONS, NEW YORK.

IMPROVED CARRIAGE-TOP.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,688, dated July 11, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Beitknown thatI, K. T. HURLBURT,Of Lyons, in the county of Wayne and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Removable and Folding Carriage-Tops; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making ment at each end of the seat of the carriage for attaching the top.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Removable carriage-tops have long been known. Such, simply, I do not claim.

Myinvention consists in the means of attaching the top to the carriage-seat, in such a man ner that not only may it be easily removed, but also so that the top may be turned halfway back or half-folded without opening the toggle-levers of the top; also, in making the bows over which the leather is stretched with joints at the angles at the top and employing but a single instead of a double set of togglelevers at each side for stretching the top, the

arrangement being such that when removed from the seat the top can be doubled together and folded up in so compact a form as to be placed diagonally under the seat, so as to be out of the way and still always convenient to be applied in case of necessity or when desired.

As represented in the drawings, A is the top, and B the ordinary seat, of an open carriage. To each end of the seat, near the front, is secured a plate, 0, having at its top a suitable loop or guide, a. Within this guide plays a socket, D, which has a shank, 1), extending downward a suitable distance, and pivoted at cto the plate. Within this socket rests the shankfof the main bow of the carriage-top, and the shank is held in the socket and at the same time the socket retained in its upright or forward position by means of a bolt or pin, d,'that passes through socket, shank, and the'guide' and plate;

The bows of ordinary carriage-tops are made entire and unbroken from end to end, being therefore rigid, and not allowing the top to double or fold together otherwise than in throwing back. Instead of this arrangementI make the bows in two parts, E E and E E, jointed or hinged together at g g, Fig. 3, the former constituting the top frame-work and the latter the sides. This allows the sides E E to fold inward, overlying each other, as clearly indicated in Fig. 3.

Ordinary carriage-tops also have a double set of toggle-levers on each side to straighten and stretch the top, one set (the vertical) allowing the top to fall half-way back and the other (the horizontal) allowing it to fall clear back. I dispense with the former, using only the single horizontal levers GG, jointed in the-center and at the ends, as usual. The advantages of this arrangement of attaching and folding the top are obvious. The mere attachment of the plates 0 G to the ends of the seat does not injure or disfigure the latter in the least. ()n the contrary, it gives an ornamental effect. The top is easily applied or removed. The chiefnovelty of this feature of the invention, however, is that the extent of motion of the socket D backward isjust such as will throw the carriage-top back half-way, as indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 1. In this position the main bow of the top strikes the rear end of the guide a and retains the top. This arrangement enables me to dispense with double vertical toggle-levers of the top for accomplishing the same purpose, as before men-v tioned.

When the top is removed the carriage presen ts the same appearance as an ordinary opentopped carriage. The top is doubled and folded up, as indicated in Fig. 3, the sides E E of the bows turning inward and overlying each other and the tops E E folding together at right angles into the smallest possible space. In this form the top can be placed diagonally. under the seat out of the way, so as to be easily transported, and still be ready at any and all the seat. The use of the single toggledevers G Gr enables the top to be thus compactly folded, which could not be the case if the ordinary double toggle-levers were employed. When the top is in the position of the dotted lines in Fig. 1 the opening of the toggle-lever enables the top to be folded or thrown clear back, as shown in Fig. 2. These single levers are also very convenient in folding the front of the carriage-top back a little distance in getting inand out of the carriage, as the same are very easily opened or closed.

What I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of the pivoted socket D, guide a, and plate 0, so arranged as to allow the carriage-top to be easily applied or removed,

K. THUS. HURLBUBT.

Witnesses:

E. O. SMiTH, A. D. ADAMS. 

